


Rays of Light

by Elennare



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: DAYDverse, Dumbledore's Army, Family, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-23
Updated: 2012-02-23
Packaged: 2017-10-31 15:15:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/345585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elennare/pseuds/Elennare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Beautiful light is born of darkness” R. Turnbull</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rays of Light

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2009 Holiday Fic Exchange on the daydverse lj community; gift for Bluealoe.  
> Thanks to xsabrix for betaing!

 “Colin?” The questioning voice was strangely tentative.

 

Colin looked up from the newly developed photographs he was examining.

 

“Something wrong, Dennis?”

 

The boy dropped down beside his brother on the couch.

 

“Not really, I was just wondering… have you got any letters from Mum and Dad? I don’t think they’ve written for a while.”

 

The too-casual tone didn’t fool Colin, and he frowned. It was true, since the first week of school, there had been no answer to their letters, and their parents had always been prompt with such things. He already suspected – feared –  he knew what had happened. But what to tell Dennis? Not his suspicions, certainly.

 

He settled on a shrug. “You’re right, it has been a while. But you know how things are now, everything being searched… The letters are probably just not reaching us. Don’t worry about it.”

 

Dennis looked thoughtful, but then he smiled. “I suppose that’s it. Thanks, Colin”.

 

Jumping up, he went to join his friends in their Exploding Snap game in another corner of the common room. Colin looked after him, relieved. He had been afraid Dennis would sense something was wrong, and he didn’t want to burden his brother with his dark worries.

 

******

 

Several students looked up as the door to the Ravenclaw common room swung open. The interest in the faces of the DA members sharpened as Luna Lovegood stepped through. It did not, after all, take a genius to deduce she had been meeting the other Lieutenants. However, since a few of the younger students present were not part of Dumbledore’s Army, Luna did not make any immediate announcement. 

 

They waited, tense and on edge, until the last outsider left. The only person who seemed unaware of the atmosphere was Luna, apparently absorbed in a book. Her housemates looked at each other hesitantly.

 

“Luna?” as her Second, Terry assumed it was his responsibility to bring her back from wherever she was lost in thought.

 

“Hmm? Oh, the others have gone. The Commander has requests for Ravenclaw. We need to find a way to get more copies of the Quibbler into the castle without being detected.”

 

A buzz of conversation sprung up, as several people began offering suggestions. But as soon as Luna began to speak again, they fell silent.

 

“He also wants us to research spells that could be used in battle, but that the Death Eaters won’t have heard of. Anything is good, if you can find a way that it could be useful. One more thing, we’re to search for connections between Salazar Slytherin and a locket.”

 

The last item caused more than one quizzical look; it seemed so unconnected to anything else. No Ravenclaw ever refused an opportunity for research, though, and the common room quickly became a hive of activity. More than one student had to duck hurriedly as they inadvertently got into the path of a book being Summoned across the room. The three main objects of investigation were talked about by the different groups, with the conversations merging as someone overheard an interesting idea.

 

“Luna, how do you get your copy? Could we just duplicate that?”

“Duplicates are always poorer quality, we need to get as many originals as possible.”

“And how to we distribute those once we have them?”

“Shrink them? We’d still have to resize them again, though.”

“Why stop at the Quibbler? Once we have a distribution method, we can write our own leaflets.”

 

“Pass me that book by your elbow, I remember something there that might work...”

“Here you go...have you seen ‘Renowned Magical Objects’ anywhere?”

 

“Who’s our best chance for access to the Restricted Section?”

“I’d say anyone but the Carrows or Snape would give it, but we can’t all ask for it at once, we need to be sure we don’t arouse suspicions.”

“I fail to see why we shouldn’t ask. It wouldn’t be much of an increase in the standard amount of requests, I think.”

 

“What do you think about this? Is it too crazy?”

“It might work... What do you think of this?”

 

Listening as she took notes from her own book, Luna smiled softly. Different as they were, they are wore blue and bronze for a reason. They were the thinkers, but more importantly perhaps, the questioners, the ones who always searched for the answers. As Colin had said, it was how they could be used that mattered. At this moment, their love of knowledge was the best way Ravenclaw could be used.

 

******

 

“You could talk to her, you know.” Dennis jumped as Colin’s voice came suddenly behind him.

“What? Talk to who? About what?”

“Luna, of course. Who else?”

 

Dennis looked around quickly, making sure there was nobody in earshot.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Colin looked sceptical at the denial. “Really?”

 

“Yes. Really. And if you don’t mind, I’ve got homework to finish for Alecto, so...” he gestured at the parchment in front of him.

 

Ignoring the not so subtle request that he leave, Colin continued talking.

“You know exactly what I mean. Why don’t you talk to her?”

 

“I... just don’t want to. Please, Colin, I need to finish this soon.” Dennis replied. Usually, he didn’t keep things from his brother, but this time, he didn’t want to talk about it. He couldn’t even explain to himself why, but he was certain he wanted to keep this private.

 

Colin softened at the tone that he had never been able to refuse. If Dennis wanted to tell him about it later, he would. Pulling out the chair next to the younger boy, he sat down.

“What’s your homework, then? Want a hand?”

 

******

 

Taking her packet of cookies from Dobby, Luna knelt down to wish the house-elf a Happy Christmas. Rising again, she looked around the Room of Requirement, smiling at the decorations that, banned in the rest of the castle, were lavishly festooned here. She loved the joy they represented, the small cheer that they could still find here at times, such as this farewell for the holidays.

 

Across the room, Colin stopped by Dennis’s side, wondering if his brother realised why so many of the younger witches had made a point of saying goodbye to him.

“I’m going to wish Luna a Merry Christmas. Want to come?”

The younger boy glared at him.

“No, thank you. Just give her my best wishes.”

“If you’re sure...”

“Yes. Oh, did Mum and Dad say if they’d meet us at the station?”

Colin hesitated.

“No, but I suppose they will... Anyway, I have the money they always give us in case we have to take a cab, so it’ll be fine.”

 

Colin walked on, looking for Luna. There were many he wanted to say goodbye to, but Luna was important. For the last weeks, he had been worrying about what the Carrows and Snape might do to her.  In the magical world especially, he hoped good wishes would help.

 

He found her now in the midst of conversation with Anthony, discussing ways to avoid confusion between spells.

“... I agree, mnemonics are often a useful method, but they have their failings. Different people make different associations.”

“It doesn’t really matter which association you use though, does it? As long as it helps you remember the use of different spells, you can make connections to anything. Names, shapes, colours... you could relate spells to kitchen spices if it worked for you.”

 

Colin laughed at that.

“You should tell Dennis, I’m sure he’d love that system.”

“Do you think so?” Luna inquired seriously. She looked around. “I can’t see him, but maybe you could tell him after.”

Colin smiled. He had suspected his brother would disappear after his recent suggestion.

“I will, thank you for the idea. I just wanted to wish you both a Merry Christmas and good holidays, from Dennis and myself.”

“Thank you. I hope your holidays are good too.”

“Ooh, thank you! And thank Dennis too, please.”

 

The three friends hugged, then separated to continue their farewells. In the midst of the darkness that had swallowed this year, these new friendships they had made were the rays of light that lit their days.

 


End file.
